nikolas

I am new in Max and I want to make an interactive installation.

The first one is, how can I make a detection of the movement of a finger inside my installation space, in low condition lighting or in the dark. What equipment may i need and how can be that possible.

The second is, if it is possible to connect a lighting moving head using dmx protocol and control it via Max.

I am new in Max and I want to make an interactive installation.
I have 2 minor problems. 
The first one is, how can I make a detection of the movement of a finger inside my installation space, in low condition lighting or in the dark. What equipment may i need and how can be that possible.
The second is, if it is possible to connect a lighting moving head using dmx protocol and control it via Max.
Thanks in advance.

detection-in-low-condition-lighting

And how do you think I can cover an area 4x4(m) or greater?

And how do you think I can cover an area 4x4(m) or greater?
Will one camera only be needed?
Any other opinions are welcome too!
And whath about the second quesktion?
Thanks in advance!!

I did think about problems that can be caused using multiple cameras and using camera as a controller.

Yes, you are right. 
I did think about problems that can be caused using multiple cameras and using camera as a controller.


about yr 2nd question I guess you could think about looking around for Midi to Dmx interfaces. I don't know much about that myself but you could then send Midi messages from Max and then control your lightning hardware in some way that fits your needs. don't know if it helps, just in case, Zoe

hello Nikolas
about yr 2nd question I guess you could think about looking around for Midi to Dmx interfaces. I don't know much about that myself but you could then send Midi messages from Max and then control your lightning hardware in some way that fits your needs. don't know if it helps, just in case, Zoe


> The second is, if it is possible to connect a lighting moving head using dmx protocol and control it via Max.

----------------------------------------------------

Depends on what hardware you're using. I got great results using the ENTTEC USB Pro in combination with an object by Olaf Matthes to control it (essentially does the talking from simple lists of values, from multislider or wherever). It was about $10 and well worth it.

http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_menu=Products&prod=70304&show=description

https://cycling74.com/twiki/bin/view/Share/OlafMatthes

but the dmx page is down as of now, not sure what's up. The object is great though, probably you can contact him for purchase.

Haven't looked into openDMX but that might be another option, and likely cheaper. But you may need to fiddle with some formatting etc. for it to work, and personally, just being able to send lists raw to Olaf's object made the process so much faster and non-frustrating.

> The second is, if it is possible to connect a lighting moving head using dmx protocol and control it via Max.
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Nikolas.
----------------------------------------------------

Haven't looked into openDMX but that might be another option, and likely cheaper. But you may need to fiddle with some formatting etc. for it to work, and personally, just being able to send lists raw to Olaf's object made the process so much faster and non-frustrating.


With the dmx udb pro and the patch mentioned I can control evertyhing on the lighting head?I mean all the parameters without having a special program(given with the lighting head)running?

Thanks a lot for your reply!
I think it is very usefull!
With the dmx udb pro and the patch mentioned I can control evertyhing on the lighting head?I mean all the parameters without having a special program(given with the lighting head)running?
thanks again!


Quote: nikolas wrote on Sun, 08 February 2009 18:06

> With the dmx udb pro and the patch mentioned I can control evertyhing on the lighting head?I mean all the parameters without having a special program(given with the lighting head)running?

Not entirely sure about that. I controlled the brightness levels only, so regardless of the light color etc. it would simply send a 0 for off and up to 255 for full-on. The effects like fades, chases, etc. can all be programmed in Max with some list manipulation (look into multislider with the # of lights you're using, use a [pattr] on it, maybe a [zl rot] for "chases", etc. Tons of options.)

What I'm not sure of is how you might control things like light position etc. if they support it. The manual for the object tells a lot about it:

http://www.nullmedium.de/dev/dmxusbpro/dmxusbpro.pdf

but I'm not sure about motors, mixing colors, etc. Possibly you could run the lighting board with minimal things running on it, or use a combination of its software and your patch. As long as the data is standard 512-channel DMX, which is what the object sends, your board should understand things fine... so, if you have a light on channel 1, and channels 2, 3, and 4 control axes of motion, sending them the appropriate values *should* work, with some fine-tuning of the value parameters. I haven't tried this tough (no access to motor-controllable lights, which is a bummer).

Regardless of what you're trying to do, working with some list manipulation will be very helpful to understand what's possible (and not just for this project). You can definitely get some wild stuff to happen. If they do support motion, be careful not to send too much too fast or you might damage something (hopefully they have internal precautions against this). It's super-easy to send tons of data really fast when you're using metros etc... so look into restricting that, or sending the lists through a speedlim.

Quote: nikolas wrote on Sun, 08 February 2009 18:06
----------------------------------------------------
> Thanks a lot for your reply!
> I think it is very usefull!
> With the dmx udb pro and the patch mentioned I can control evertyhing on the lighting head?I mean all the parameters without having a special program(given with the lighting head)running?
> thanks again!
----------------------------------------------------

Not entirely sure about that. I controlled the brightness levels only, so regardless of the light color etc. it would simply send a 0 for off and up to 255 for full-on. The effects like fades, chases, etc. can all be programmed in Max with some list manipulation (look into multislider with the # of lights you're using, use a [pattr] on it, maybe a [zl rot] for "chases", etc. Tons of options.) 

I am new in Max, so I am learning things as time goes by.

I have checked the dmx manual as well and saw what I can do with it. The only thing that I want to control is the iris and the rotation of the lighting moving head over x,y,and z axis. I imagine that it is possible.

Really apreciate your reply.
I am new in Max, so I am learning things as time goes by.
I have checked the dmx manual as well and saw what I can do with it. The only thing that I want to control is the iris and the rotation of the lighting moving head over x,y,and z axis. I imagine that it is possible.
Thanks!


detection in low condition lighting